“How’s the tea?” I asked quietly, just to be certain. The cafe was empty, aside from a board looking waitress and a couple putting their coats on getting ready to leave.
She cleared her throat before answering, “Its fine, Lorelei.”
I pursed my lips. Why on earth would she be angry with me? I wracked my brain for anything that I’d said or done over the past few days that could’ve unnerved her, but I drew a blank.
Outside the cafe, an array of opaque clouds blocked any chance of the sun shining through. The streets, still partly flooded from the last storm, were taken by the traffic- it was rush hour. I could feel another storm lurking not far away- I could always feel it in the depths of my bones; a cool, hallow feeling of gloom. As if we needed any more rain.
“Lorelei, can you pass me the sugar?”
I handed the canister to her wordlessly. I was still wondering what I could’ve possibly done to upset her. I had invited her out for coffee to tell her some life changing news; she didn’t have any right to be distressed yet. Unless her mother senses told her that something objectionable was on its way.
“Mom, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
She stirred her tea with an obviously fake smile. “Yes, dear?”
“Well, you know that I’m graduating this year...”
“Yes?” She asked. It was evident that she knew where this was headed. We were both simply beating about the bush.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m going to do with my life lately. It’s so hard to find work in this day in age, what with all the poverty and illness. I consider myself pretty lucky.” I mused, my eyes gazing back to the dark clouds in the rapt sky.
“Yes, we are all lucky, Lorelei.” There was something in her voice that told me she didn’t mean what she’d said.
“I digress.” I sighed. “But the point I am getting at is that I want to make a difference. I could be a lawyer, like dad, or I could be a teacher, like you. Both of those jobs equally contribute to our society in a positive way, no doubt, but I really want to change life. I look out at the streets, and there are children living in alleyways, picking through garbage cans in order to stay alive. It’s sad, really. And it’s all because of the plagues, and illnesses, mom. These children are homeless because their parents have been obliterated by the plagues.”
I could feel her eyes stare into me. She was trying to understand where my thoughts were, exactly. I was having a hard time just coming out with it. It wasn’t something you said over tea and biscuits, but I wasn’t sure how else I could tell her.
“There are so many signs that society as we know it is crumbling to pieces.” I told her sternly, turning to look into her grey eyes. “You’re a teacher, mom. I know for a fact that you aren’t allowed to teach such things to your students, but you have to realize that we don’t live in a perfect world. It’s been demolished by war, hundreds upon hundreds of years ago, and we’ve only just recently rose up-“
“Lorelei!” My mother said in a harsh voice. “Who has told you such nonsense?”
I lowered my face, and looked up at her through my eyelashes. “I found an old textbook in the school storage room. It dates back to the earlier 2000’s, and I knew it was wrong to read it, but it was so interesting, and I couldn’t help myself. You’d be so amazed, mom, of what happened back then. I thought you knew all about it.”
My mother’s eyes hardened. Her mouth turned down into a defining frown. She slammed her fist on the table. “Nonsense, Lorelei. I have never in my entire life heard such nonsense. Earth was demolished by the Natural Calamities- surely you remember that from fifth grade history. Hurricanes, Earthquakes, floods; they came in abundance almost half a millennium ago, and they were named the Natural Calamities by the few survivors that lived.” She was caught up in her tirade. “New Portia has struggled over the past 350 years to become a safe haven. Wars are nothing but a myth, Lorelei. Humans must strive to work together to live in peace and safety- war was a foolish idea created by the ill long ago to try and trick intelligent people like yourself. No, you must forget all that you read in those foolish books and never speak of what you read to anybody. Whoever wrote them is wrong.”
I stared at her incredulously. Many things she’d said surprised me. Especially about New Portia being a ‘safe haven’. Our region was anything but that. The plagues were taking people by the hour. “Mother, you of all people should know that this is the truth. We have a right to know the truth about what happened-“
“No!” My mother stood from her chair. “It’s all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! I don’t want to hear another word of it, Lorelei.”
I tried to calm her. “Sit back down, mom. I’m sorry for upsetting you.” I juggled between standing up for what I had learned to be truth and keeping my mother in a calm state. There were much worse things I needed to tell her, and if something this minute tickled her, I wasn’t sure how I’d ever spit out the news. I took a deep sigh and put a hand on her shoulder. “I promise never to bring it up again. What I was getting at is that I found a career that I want to pursue.”
She looked vaguely interesting in the change of topic. She brushed herself off, sat back down and waited patiently, but I still saw the hint of indignation in her stony grey eyes.
“You know how I liked to take in sick birds as a kid? Back before we learned that specific types were plague carriers?”
My mom nodded.
“And how I liked to try and figure out what was wrong with them?”
She seemed to recall, for she noted, “And you were so professional when they died. You just buried them in the back yard and moved on. Rarely shed a tear.”
I nodded excitedly. “Exactly. You see, with my high science marks in school, and the pre-med course I took last summer, it would be easy to get a job as a scientist. I could help find cures for the plagues. Help society get back on its feet.”
Mom seemed encouraged by this. “Why, Lorelei, this is wonderful news! My daughter,” She mused to herself, “a scientist.” Every word I’d spoken about war and inhumanity had been forgiven. Her smile said it all.
Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw the door to the cafe swing wide open. I turned my head to see who it was, and instantly regretted it when the tall and broodingly handsome figure started walking to our table.
I tried to hide my face in my arms, but realized how silly it would look and simply stared out the window again. As if something so uncanny would happen…
“Lorelei Vinson,” A voice, so deep and rich that it reminded me of a cup of freshly brewed coffee, spoke my name. I didn’t dare look up at him.
My mother tensed up. She cleared her throat cautiously. “Good afternoon, Conrad. How are you today?”
Conrad laughed lightly. “I’m well, Mrs. Vinson. I’ve just come in to warm up. It’s horrible weather we’re having, isn’t it?”
My mother nodded absently. “Yes, it is. I sense a storm brewing.” She sniffed the air impassively. “How are things at the lab?”
Conrad shrugged. “Alright. The number of deaths are increasing daily, unfortunately. But the scientists in the lab are progressing greatly, I assure you. I only examine the bodies, Mrs. Vinson. I’m not much help in the medical laboratory.”
She chuckled in what I knew to be disgust, hidden cleverly for Conrad’s sake. “Thanks for the update, dear.” She gestured toward me with her hand, a glow of curiosity in her eyes. “I see you’ve met my daughter, Lorelei.”
“Yes,” Conrad said politely. I looked up to see him looking at me with an expecting smile. “I only met her yesterday at the interview, but I must say how pleased I am to have her join the program. Such a smart daughter, you have. It’s a privilege, really.”
Every ounce of colour drained from my mother’s face. Her eyes widened to the size of golf balls. She stood up so rapidly that her chair flew out from under her and skidded across the cafe’s floor. The waitress looked our way, opened her mouth to offer help, but saw my mother’s expression and shimmied back into the kitchen, the door swinging rapidly on its hinges. Wise of her.
“Lorelei Vinson,” I my mother whispered. “I-I thought you said you were going to be a scientist.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat. “It is science mother. It’s a very technical science, forensic analysis.”
My mother looked as though she might fall over. “Lorelei! There are- there are plagues out there,” she jabbed her finger pointedly towards the window, “killing off half of the population, and you’ve decided you want to be a coroner?”
I was glad that the cafe was currently empty. Aside from Conrad, that is, who was now staring down awkwardly at the restaurant’s textile.
“Mom, let me explain. It’s completely safe; they provide daily medical care to ensure that I don’t fall ill, and after five years of training, I’ll be making almost as much as you and dad.”
“Five years!” She shrieked. “Lorelei, I cannot allow you to do this! You aren’t even eighteen yet! You have years to think about this! Your father and I will provide for you until you think of a reasonable career.” She paused and looked to Conrad. “With all do respects, son,” She noted passively.
He shook his head with what I guessed was an amused smile. I fought to look away- he was rather good looking. “Of course, Mrs. Vinson.”
“Mom,” I said angrily, “This is the career I’ve chosen. I start the program next week. I go after school until 11 and then fulltime on the weekends. Like I said, it’s years of training, but I get paid very well.”
My mother burst into hysterics. “You- you can’t! I won’t allow it. I won’t- I-I-“ She pushed past me towards the door and turned to look back at me. “You’d better find yourself new living arrangements young lady. I’ll have your things on the front porch by sundown, unless of course you come to your senses and change you’re mind.”
What sun? I thought dryly, beyond frustrated. “Mom, you can’t just kick me out of the house! You said, it yourself, I’m only seventeen! Where am I possibly going to live until I'm of age?”
Her eyes bore into mine from across the cafe. She had one hand on the door as she spoke in a tone so portentous and fateful that it sent a shiver through my spine. “I guess the sooner you figure that out, the better.” She said before storming out and scurrying to her car. I could hear the tires screech as she sped onto the street.
“Well,” Conrad commented after a few minutes of uncomforting stillness, “I guess it’s just you and me, kid.”
I glared at him. His brown eyes bore into mine. I recalled staring into them at the interview, unable to look away as I answered his skill testing as well as personal questions. He couldn’t have been much older than me- that much was obvious by the young edge to his tanned face and solid biceps that crept out from under his plain black t-shirt. He’d moved into the New Portia several months ago, and became the talk of the region before he’d had time to unpack his things. Nobody knew where he’d come from or what his story was. When I met him the other day, I had been too afraid to ask.
Yet looking at him now, I realized he had very suddenly become the only person I had on my side. So instead of being sarcastic or snarky, like I would’ve been any other time, I simply nodded and looked out towards the dark clouds that kept rolling closer and closer. Thunder shook the cafe and a downpour started up outside. Lovely.
I should’ve taken the clouds as a sign.
*
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